03/14/2012

Chris Tang is UCLA Anderson's Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration. During his time at Anderson, Tang has served the community in numerous ways: as a respected researcher, as instructor and mentor to his students and in administration as a senior associate dean. (Click here for his full bio.)

Tang has been recognized by the UCLA Anderson community numerious times for teaching excellence. Now, this excellence has been recognized by the entire university. Yesterday, Dean Judy Olian and Faculty Chairman Charles Corbett announced "that our colleague, Professor Chris Tang, was selected to receive the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for 2011-2012."

Each year UCLA selects six faculty members from across campus; it is considered the highest attainment of academic and professional excellence at UCLA.

We asked Professor Tang for his reaction and, after careful consideration, he provided the following:

The UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award gives me a humble feeling because I am not sure I deserve a special award for doing something that I have loved doing throughout my life. This award will not change the way I teach, but it gives me a feeling of gratitude for being a member of UCLA.

As a pre-eminent public university, UCLA encourages self-improvement but not cut-throat competition. Also, UCLA cultivates intrinsic values but not self-interest. I believe the academic environment at UCLA has motivated me to develop and share teaching materials and pedagogies with others. As I taught many talented and committed students, I also learned from many great individuals within the UCLA community.

The UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award is a reflection of the greatness of UCLA as a whole, but not an individual faculty member like me.